Time for a new video card!

[Peter.Steele]

Right now I'm still running the same pair of Crossfire'd Radeon HD 4870's that I've had since, oh, August of 2008. Visionteks, straight 512MB reference model.

They've been great, but I'm starting to get video-based BSOD's in certain critical applications - Go2Meeting, primarily - that tend to make me a fair amount of money.

It's (obviously) been quite a while since I've been video card shopping. Recommendations? I'd like to stay <$200, if possible, and I don't want to go lower in performance than the 4870.


For reference, the rest of my system is:

Intel i7-4770k
Asus Z87-Pro motherboard
16GB Corsair RAM
Samsung 840 SSD
Windows 7 HP


Primary use of the system is CAD-CAM stuff, with occasional gaming at 1080p. (No, I will not be looking at workstation cards - they're a complete waste of money, because my software is D3D not OpenGL.)

[ultrahax]

I've generally had good luck with EVGA / MSI Nvidia cards, whatever you can get your hands on that's in-budget. Whilst the AMD hardware can have more horsepower in some cases, their driver quality seems to be substantially lower than Nvidia. AMD hardware is also in-demand due to litecoin miners, which is pushing up the price of the newer AMD cards, so you might get more bang for buck with Nvidia.

[bg]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133470

[wobbleside]

I'm presently a huge fan of the Nvida 760 GTX cards. They are definitely a fantastic deal right now. I picked up a EVGA super clock when they came out and a friend just gave me another one to pay off a debt though my current psu can't handle running two of them.

Of course we'll probably see an nvida line refresh in a couple of months since they just announced the 800 mobile series cards and there are several laptops shipping out the first week of April with them in it.

[Mute]

I just recently switched from a 5770 to a GTX 760 SC. Dang good card. 1080p gaming at highest details settings without a single hiccup. Should handle CAD-CAM easily.

[eLeL]

The EVGA GTX 760 cards are what I'd recommend for that price range. Haven't been so much of a fan of AMD-based cards these days but, if you do some mining, that might be the way to go. NVIDIA in every other case. Keep your eyes peeled for deals on the video cards as you'll find them every now and then.

[monk]

I picked up a 770 a few months ago. Already thinking about getting either a second 770 or a 780.

[betabczhuj]

Dang good card. 1080p gaming at highest details settings without a single hiccup. Should handle CAD-CAM easily.

[ChopperX]

I have always used evga nvidia cards due to their warranty and that they are Southern California based. I would normally say to wait to for the new GTX 800 series but they havnt been announced and I seems like you need a card now. Try looking at some 760's.

I am waiting for the 800 series. No idea when the cards will come out but I am running a 570 right now and it's been pretty good to me for the past 3 or so years.

[SMR510]

EVGA 760 SC is the way to go. I have a 770SC and it is awesome although I probably could have saved a few bucks and went with a 760 without knowing the difference.

[RonnieP]

Wait till Maxwell is released. Even if you don't pick up an 800 series, the price of the 700 series should drop.

[Baeleron]

Still running a single Radeon HD 4870 that I've had since around 2008, and it's till working decently and still playing the games that I've wanted to play. Probably no reason to bother upgrading until it either breaks or something comes along that it's too slow to handle.

[Peter.Steele]

Well things got a lot more urgent.

I've been having a lot of crashes with Autodesk Inventor 2015, and most of them - according to Autodesk - are based on graphics issues, due to the fact that my drivers are so ridiculously out of date. (They're not updating the 4870's on anything like a regular basis anymore.)

Newegg had a 10% coupon in their email blast today for "select" AMD cards, and I had a $50 gift card for Newegg from my part-time job ... sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I bought a Sapphire R9-270X with 4GB. It's basically rebranded 7870 gHz edition with an extra 2GB of RAM. Out the door with next-day shipping it came out to be $189.

[jbolton]

I have been happy with my Geforce GTX 780

[Peter.Steele]

Now not being a complete n00b, I know that the Windows Experience Index is a completely artificial and meaningless sort of benchmark, but ... now that I've got my new video card installed, according to WEI, my CPU is now my bottleneck, and I've got an i7-4770k.